Automatic edge folding and setting machine



Sept. l, 1970 sEucHl SH|NJYO AUTOMATIC EDGE FOLDING AND SETTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Aug. l2, 1968 FiG.

Sept 1, 1970 sEncHl sHlNJYo 3,526,010

AUTOMATIC EDGE FOLDING AND SETTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 12, 196s s sheets-sheet z Sept. l, 1970 sEllcHl sHlNJYo l 3,526,010

UTOMATIC` EDGE FOLDING AND SETTING MACHINE Filed Aug. l2, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent O AUTOMATIC EDGE FOLDING AND SETTING MACHINE Seiichi Shinjyo, Kurume-shi, Japan, assignor to Nippon Rubber Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan Filed Aug. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 751,810 Int. Cl. A43d 11/00 U-S. Cl. 12-55 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for stitching uppers such as of canvas shoes, is adapted to fold back an edge portion of an upper canvas in predetermined width and to cure the folded edge portion at a suitable temperature, thus folding permanently the upper canvas on its edge portion thereby making it easy and positive to sew the edge of the canvas subsequently.

This invention relates to an automatic edge folding and setting machine, and more particularly to an automatic edge folding and setting machine which, in stitching uppers such as of canvas shoes, is adapted to fold back an edge portion of an upper canvas in predetermined width and to cure the folded edge portion at a suitable temperature, thus folding permanently the upper canvas at its edge portion thereby making it easy and positive to sew the edge of the canvas subsequently.

In the conventional art of manufacturing canvas shoes it was a general practice, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, that when a vamp 37 was sewn to quarters 38, a rear curved edge 39 of the vamp 37 was folded back onto its backside in predetermined width along the curved edge 39 and was sewn at 41 to the front edge of the quarters 38 on said folded back portion 40. But according to this conventional practice, it was diicult to form a folded portion on the rear edge 39 of the vamp 37 immediately before sewing the vamp 37 to the quarters 38 because the material used as the upper of a canvas shoe is relatively stiff and thick and moreover curved according to a last. Accordingly, it has been a conventional practice as a preliminary step, prior to sewing, to temporarily bend the sewing edge of the vamp of the canvas shoe rst by hand and simultaneously iron the thus bent portion thereby to form a permanent fold on the vamp at the folded edge portion. But this practice, namely, forming of the permanent fold in uniform width on the sewing edge of the vamp of canvas shoe not only required considerable skill but involved heavy labor and was ineicient. Stated in more detail, so-called edge-folding work is done in such a manner that a vamp 37 is held by the left hand, and portion 40 to be folded is folded back, and at the same time, is set by an iron in the right hand in the folded state, but as the work is done by hand, the folded portion 40 tends to be irregular in size and also it requires a long period of time for a worker to become skilled in forming a uniformly folded portion 40. Furthermore, it is diicult to keep the pressure of an iron constant, and such difficulty tends to cause lack of pressure, which in turn not only tends to produce insufficiently folded portions but also such irregularities in the product peculiar to manual operation as wrinkles produced by folded portion 40 being overlapped on curved portions. Thus, diculty in shaping a well-folded portion 40 and the use of a heavy iron for heat-setting or the fatigue of the right hand of the operator brought about by necessity for application of strong force results in ineiciency and is laborious. As an alternative it also was known to temporarily sew a folded edge portion or to apply a rubber cement to the back side of the rear curved edge 39 of vamp 37 and to Patented Sept. l, 1970 2 set the folded portion in shape by ironing in order to malntain the folded edge condition in folding operation, but this method also required too much labor to be effectively put into general use.

An object of the present invention is to provide an edge folding and setting machine assuring smooth and quick sewing irrespective of the thickness and hardness of the canvas to Abe used.

Another object of the present invention to to provide an edge folding and setting machine that reduces the heavy labor.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an edge folding and setting machine which is low in cost and can dispense with the need for skilled workers thereby to effect a reduction in the labor cost.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an edge folding and setting machine that can be embodied by modifying only a part of the mechanism of a conventional type sewing machine.

A description of a preferred embodiment of the invention will be made below with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an upper of a canvas shoe, with a part broken away;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an automatic edge folding and setting machine according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view taken along the line V--V of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a material guide block A forming a part of the automatic edge folding and setting machine of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII- VII of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a side view taken along the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a side view taken along the line IX-IX of FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a presser member of a folded edge pressing portion B forming a part of the automatic edge folding and setting machine of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a heat-pressing portion C forming a part of the automatic edge folding and setting machine of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along the line XII-I XII of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a plan view taken along the line XIII-XIII of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a lower receiver plate fixed on the table surface positioned downwardly of the heat-pressing portion, forming a part of the setting machine of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a Singer Sewing Machine of 108 W20 model which is modied to incorporate the automatic edge folding and setting machine of the present invention thereinto; and

FIG. 16 is a longitudinal sectional view of the bed surface of FIG. 1.5.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 3, the numeral 2 indicates an inner presser bar made of blister steel or the like; 23 indicates a presser member made of blister steel or the like and fastened by screws 24 to the inner presser bar 2. The presser member 23 constitutes a folded edge pressing portion B together with the inner presser bar 2; and 3 indicates an outer presser bar having a heat-pressing means C secured to the lower end thereof, the heat-pressing means C being electrically operated through a fitting plate 31 made of a substantially L-shaped material such as iron.

There is provided a guide block A for a material such as canvas on the opposite side with respect to said heatpressing means C with said folded edge pressing means B therebetween. The details of the guide block A are shown in FIGS. 6 to 9. The guide block A comprises a projection plate 11 adapted to be moved by actuation of a transversely actuating rod 22, a feed plate 10 placed immediately above said projection plate 11 and which is larger in width than the projection plate 11, and a guide plate 12, said guide plate 12 being fastened by screws 1-9 to the feed plate 10 in such a manner that a material feed opening 42 may be provided on the upper side of said feed plate 10 and a connection plate 13 is anchored by an adjusting screw 116 to the rear edge of said guide plate 12 through a slit 36 of the connection plate 13. As shown in the connection plate 13, a folded edge receiver plate 15 for forming the guide plate 12 and the material feed opening 42 is anchored by screws 20 to the lower side of the connection plate 13 through a spacer 14. The numeral 118 designates an adjusting screw to be inserted into a slot 21 of the spacer 14. In this case screws 17 are screwed down into the connection plate 13, and accordingly, the connection plate 13 can be adjusted in height by adjusting the screws 17, thus allowing itself to be adapted for the thickness of material M to be folded.

On the other hand, the heat-pressing means C is attached to a fitting plate 31, as shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, and an intermediate plate 35 consisting of iron or the like and a cover plate 29 are secured by screws 30 to the upper side of the heat-pressing plate 25 so as to form a space between the cover plate 29 and the heat-pressing plate 25. As shown in FIG. 13, an electric heating wire 27 is held in sandwiched manner between insulating mica plates, insulating ceramics or other insulating plates 26 in said space, and a terminal 28 of the electric heating wire 27 is attached to the top of said cover plate 29 through another insulating plate 26 such as made of mica. A lead wire 34 is connected to said terminal 28, said lead wire 34 being connected to a power source. The numeral 33 designates a receiver plate made of iron or the like which is mounted lixedly on the bed of the sewing machine, said receiver plate 33 forming a space for a. path between the plate 33 and the heat-pressing means C, thus holding therebetween a material such the canvas portion that has iinished edge-folding, and intermittently moving the material forward while pressing it and heating.

FIGS. l and 1-6 show a machine driving mechanism of a Singer (trademark) Sewing Machine of 108W 20 model (a sewing machine for sewing an edge tape). The numeral 1 designates the needle bar; 2 the inner presser bar used in the present invention; 3 an outer presser bar used in this invention; 4 a sewing machine bed; 5 a feed dog; 6 a driver connection arm of said feed dog V5; 7 a top plate of the bed 4; and 8 designates a projection on the lower side of the sewing machine bed 4, said projection being adapted to be fitted into a hole 9 formed in the drive connection arm l6.

Referring now to the driving mechanism of the sewing machine of the invention, the needle bar 1 and the inner presser bar 2 are moved up and down simultaneously thereby causing the feed dog 5 to feed the canvas in accordance with the movement of the needle bar 1 and the inner presser bar 2. Accordingly, the |feed dog is designed so as to move up and down and back and forth in timed relationship with the needle bar 1 and the inner presser bar 2. The outer presser bar 3 moves up and down in reversed relationship with respect to the up and down movement of the needle 1 and the inner presser bar 2 thereby pressing down canvas sewn and fed by movement of the needle bar 1, inner presser bar 2 and feed dog 5.

Points of modification made in parts of the abovedescribed conventional sewing machine are as follows:

(l) In place of the feed dog S and the drive connection arm 6 in a driving mechanism of the above-mentioned conventional sewing machine the material guide block A is provided, and the projection plate 11 of the feed plate 10 of said guide block A is connected to the transversely driving rod 22 in place of said drive connection arm 6.

l(2) In place of the canvas presser member on the lowe end of the inner presser bar 2 in the driving mechanism of the above-described conventional sewing machine, the folded edge pressing portion B having the presser member 23 shown in FIG. 3 is provided.

(3) In place of the lower end of the outer presser bar 3 in the driving mechanism of the above-described sewing machine, the heat-pressing means C and the lower receiver plate 33 are mounted.

Referring now to the operational aspect of the edge folding and setting machine of the described structure according to the present invention, material M is placed on the guide plate 10 of the material guide block A and then said feed plate 10 moves the material M in the direction along which the material M is fed by the action of a transversely driving rod 22 towards a material feed opening 42 of the feed plate 10, where the edge of the material M is folded back in predetermined width and is, in turn, transferred to the next edge pressing portion B. The folded edge pressing means B comprises the inner presser bar 2 and presser member 23. The folded edge pressing means B is designed such that, when the presser member 23 is lowered, the presser surface of the presser member 23 comes in contact with the exit of the material feed opening 42 of the feed plate 10 and presses downwardly on the material M. That is to say, the presser member 23 moves up and down in synchronized relation with the longitudinal movement of the material guide block A in such a manner that when the presser member 23 moves down, the feed plate 10` of the guide block A moves with the edge of the material M folded back, and when the guide block A retreats, the presser member 23 is in its upward position, releases the material M and retreats.

Next, the folded material M is fed between the heatpressing portion C and the lower receiver plate 33, where it is in succession pressed and heated for setting. In this case the heat pressing means C is mounted by a fitting plate 31 on the lower end of the outer presser bar 3 and operates intermittently lby moving up and down alternately with respect to feed by the feed plate |10 of the material guide block A and by the presser metal 23.

A description will be made of an example of an edge folding operation by the use of the automatic edge folding and setting machine of the present invention. When the automatic edge folding and setting machine illustrated herein was used in canvas shoes (having a canvas upper consisting of the canvas vamp and quarters sewn together) shown in FIGS. l and 2, it was found that, while one woman worker can produce 700 pairs of shoes on an average per 8 hours in the case of conventional edge folding by manual operation of an iron, which was not free from production of imperfect articles, the use of the machine of the present invention made it possible to produce 220() pairs on an average under the same condition and without nnevenness in the quality of the products.

What I claim is:

1. An automatic edge folding and setting machine comprising a material guide block mounted for longitudinal movement for forming a desired folded edge portion on an edge of material, a folded edge pressing means for being pressed downwards and holding from above the folded edge portion formed by said material guide block in the folded state and a heat-pressing means for heat-setting the folded edge portion pressed and held by said edge pressing means, said folded edge pressing means being movable up and down in synchronized relation with the longitudinal movement of said material guide block and said heat-pressing means lbeing movable intermittently up and down alternately with respect to feeding of a feed plate of the material guide block and a presser member of the folded edge pressing means.

2. A setting machine according to claim 1, wherein said material guide block comprises a projection plate adapted for being moved by actuation of a transversely driving rod, a feed plate larger in width than said projection plate, a guide plate fixed to said feed plate, a connection plate, and adjusting screws anchoring the connection plate to an edge of said guide plate, said connection plate having on the lower side of one end thereof a receiver plate for receiving a folded edge portion and a spacer so as to adjust the height of the connection plate by adjustment of the screws on the connection plate thereby to be adapted for the thickness of the material.

3. A setting machine according to claim 1, wherein said folded edge pressing means comprises an inner presser bar and a presser member anchored to the lower end of said presser bar.

4. A setting machine according to claim 1, wherein said heat-pressing means including a heat pressing plate, an

, intermediate member, and a cover plate secured to an upper side of said heat-pressing plate through said intermediate member to provide a spacing to hold a heating element.

5. A setting machine according to claim 4, including a heating element in said spacing, said heating element comprising a nichrome wire, and upper and lower insulating materials holding the wire in sandwich manner therebetween.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,280,346 4/ 1942 Noecker 12-55 2,311,085 2/ 1943 'Rudolph 12--55 3,268,931 8/ 1966 Webster 12-55 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

